八版圣典节译：泰伦刽子手

CARNIFEXES 

Carnifexes are living engines of destruction, towering monsters of unyielding armoured chitin and knotted alien musculature. They are one of the toughest and deadliest of all a hive fleet's warrior creatures, created to spearhead assaults in massed battles. Though the Hive Mind has since created larger warrior-organisms, few are the Carnifex's equal in terms of size to strength, nor in terms of sheer destructive potential. 

泰伦刽子手是活生生的毁灭引擎，是由坚硬的几丁质装甲和虬结的异星生物肌肉组织构成的高大怪物。他们是虫巢舰队的战士生物中最强健也最致命的物种之一，是作为在大规模战斗中进攻的矛头被创造而出的。虽然虫群意识后来创造出了众多的战士生物，但在大小、力量和纯粹的破坏潜力方面，都几乎没有能与刽子手相匹敌的。

The Imperium's first recorded Carnifex encounters occurred in the battles leading to Hive Fleet Behemoth's invasion of Macragge. As the great star-vessels of Mankind strove with the unearthly living ships of the Tyranids, Carnifexes were to be found at the head of many boarding actions, tearing the defenders apart with scythe-shaped talons and immolating the survivors with incandescent bolts of bio-plasma. These creatures swiftly became known as 'Screamer Killers', named for the terrible ululating shriek that accompanied their bio-plasma discharges. 

在贝希摩斯虫巢舰队对于马库拉格的入侵行动中，帝国第一次记录到的与泰伦刽子手的遭遇。当人类巨大的星舰与泰伦异形那怪异的活体飞船交战时，刽子手被发现在许多次跳帮行动中担任先头部队。它们用镰刀状的利爪撕碎防御者，并用炽热的生物电浆矢弹烧死幸存者。这些生物很快就作为“尖叫杀手”而广为人知——它们因释放生物电浆弹时伴随产生的可怕啸叫尖声而得名。

The Screamer-Killer was long thought by the Magos Biologis to be the only breed of Carnifex, but as the Tyrannic Wars grind on, many other iterations of this bioform have emerged to wreak horrific carnage upon Imperial forces. A particularly notorious example is the much-feared ’Thornback’: Created by the Hive Mind to excel as much at range as in the crush of melee, the Thornback can launch a volley of spines from its dorsal thorax plates with lethal force, and can wield an array of ranged bio-weapons. Doubtless there are many more Carnifex strains that have yet to be encountered by the Imperium, each with their own horrifying methods of slaughter. 

生物贤者们曾长期认为尖叫杀手是唯一的刽子手品种，但随着与泰伦异形战争的继续，这种生物的许多其他迭代都已经出现，它们对帝国军队进行了可怕的屠杀。一个尤为臭名昭著的例子是令人恐惧的“棘刺背”:虫巢意识的创造令其对于远程作战和在混战中碾碎敌人同等擅长，它能以致命的力量从胸背板上射出一连串尖刺，也能使用一系列的远程生物武器。毫无疑问，（银河中）还存在着其他更多人类帝国未曾遭遇过的刽子手种类，而每个种类都有属于自己的可怕屠杀手段。

Even as the Hive Mind creates increasingly complex organisms to enable it to hunt and kill its prey, the Carnifex has remained the combat standard, a reliable and relatively simple bioform that can perform well in any form of front-line conflict. Unlike specialised organisms such as Maleceptors and Toxicrenes, which require extensive time and resources for the hive fleets to spawn, the Carnifex can be generated swiftly and in great numbers; it is a rare Tyranid assault that does not include at least one brood of these mighty creatures. This allows the hive fleets to create a force perfectly suited to overcome and destroy a prey world's defenders. Worse still, Carnifexes are protected by a reinforced exoskeleton that is at least as dense as ceramite. Combined with their massive bulk and unnatural vitality, Carnifexes can shrug off an obscene amount of firepower and endure horrendous wounds before succumbing to death. 

虽然虫巢意识还在越来越多地创造出使其能够捕猎和杀死猎物的复杂生物，但刽子手仍是泰伦生物的战斗标杆——这种可靠且相对简单的生物能在各种类型的前线冲突中表现良好。诸如灵脑兽和毒鞭兽之类特化的生物体需要虫巢舰队消耗大量时间和资源去生产，刽子手则能够快速且大量地生成；不包含至少一种刽子手在内的泰伦异形进攻几乎是不存在的。这使得虫群舰队能够创造出一种完美适合战胜并摧毁猎物世界防御者们的部队。更糟的是，保护刽子手（躯体）的强化外骨骼至少和陶钢一样致密。刽子手凭借着自己巨大的体型和非自然的生命力进行战斗，在屈服于死亡之前，它能对数量庞大到惊人的火力不屑一顾，并忍受住骇人的伤口。

Though Carnifexes lack the swiftness of other creatures in the Tyranid swarm, they more than make up for it in sheer brute force. A Carnifex's thunderous charge starts slowly, steely sinews straining as the beast propels its improbable bulk to top speed, making the ground itself shake. Its heavy footfalls beat out a sonorous drum-beat of doom as it strides forth. As the beast reaches full speed, its prey scatters before it or is trampled to death. A charging Carnifex is likeness to be a battering ram，for their immense bulk can crush any opponent that bars its way and smash through almost any obstacle. Indeed, only a hardened fortress wall or super-heavy tank has any hope of surviving the impact and stalling the Carnifex's stampede. 

虽然刽子手缺乏泰伦虫群中其他生物的敏捷性，但他们完全用蛮力弥补了这一点。刽子手雷霆般的冲锋是缓慢开始的，当这些野兽将自己不可思议的躯体推动到最高速度时，它们会绷紧自己钢铁般的肌肉，其沉重的步伐会令地面晃动。当刽子手大步向前时，它沉重的脚步发出铿锵有力的末日鼓声。当这只野兽全速前进时，猎物要么是在它面前四散奔逃，要么就是被它踩死。人们将一只冲锋中的刽子手比作一柄冲击锤，因为它们巨大的身躯可以碾碎任何挡路的对手，冲破几乎任何障碍。事实上，只有坚固的堡垒护墙或超重型坦克才有希望在刽子手的撞击中幸存下来并让狂奔的刽子手减速。

Sometimes, not even this proves sufficient, as the few surviving records from Macragge's polar fortresses bear testament. The best way to survive a charging Carnifex is to be elsewhere when it arrives. 

但有些时候，即便是坚固的堡垒护墙或超重型坦克也被证明不足以抵挡刽子手的冲锋，马库拉格极地要塞中极少数幸存下来的记录证明了这一点。从冲锋的刽子手面前幸存下来的最后方法，就是在它抵达时躲到其他地方。